Thursday, 14 February 2013

On the Mat Day 341: Growing

Our club is slowly but steadily starting to grow. A Canadian guy turned up last night at Tsurumai gym. It was very nice to see an english speaker among our ranks because it really makes a difference when it comes to sharing ideas and concepts about grappling. Even though I speak very good Japanese, it is still difficult to convey what I truly mean. I sometimes feel that I have missed out on some of the knowledge circulating in the club and I am an outsider. The guys I train with would probably say I'm talking bullshit but I know how it can be a pain in the arse to go out of your way to explain more clearly to a non-native.

As always Tuesday is a rough night for me, particularly when I am concentrating on working my way out of bad positions. This means I don't fight like crazy to not let a white belt pass my guard but I will work hard to escape a submission or a bad position such as mounted, side control or back control. It's hard right now because my energy is low and my stamina is nothing like it was 5 months ago when doing Tapout XT. I worked with kettlebells again last night after work and it kicks my arse.

I also read last night that wrestling will not be in the next olympics. Since I consider wrestling a sort of brother to jiu-jitsu as is judo, and also believe it to be one of the original pure sports played in the games in ancient Greece, it annoyed the hell out of me that they would get rid of it. There is obviously some money exchanging hands for such fuckery to take place.

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About Me

I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in October 2009 after getting fit using P90X. Ive done a number of martial arts since I was 13 years old; Karate (Wado-Ryu, Shotokan), Aikido, Boxing, Pancrase and Kendo. I started BJJ because I've always had an interest in submission techniques. I am currently a black belt under Shinsuke Fukuzumi. My initial goal for doing BJJ was to become tough and improve my self-defence skills. This has changed quite a bit and I now find myself doing BJJ more for the enjoyment and health aspect. I maintain a steady weight of 73 to 74 kg and sometimes compete under Leve (lightweight).
I try to train 3-4 times a week while balancing a busy full time job and meet the demands of my 3 young kids.
BJJ Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Marcelo Behring > Waldomiro Perez > Roberto Godoi > Marco Barbosa>Shinsuke Fukuzumi